who are the refs for Game 3?

[Creation88]

Crawford reffing tonight. very interesting. :ihit

http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html

[FromWayDowntown]

At this point, I think the odds are pretty good that Joey has Game 3. There are 8 crew chiefs in this round. We've seen 2 (Bavetta, Wunderlich). 2 others are working tonight (Javie and Dan Crawford). That leaves 4 who could conceivably work game 3 of Spurs/Mavs: Bennett Salvatore, Joey Crawford, Monty McCutchen, and Scott Foster. Salvatore hasn't worked a game since Saturday, and can't work Boston/Chicago again, so he's got either Spurs/Mavs or Jazz/Lakers on Thursday. Foster hasn't worked a game since Sunday, so he could be at Boston/Chicago, Spurs/Mavs, or Jazz/Lakers. Joey and McCutchen each worked last night and each has already called a game in the Jazz/Lakers series, so neither of them will be in Salt Lake City tomorrow night.

[hater]

it Joey Crawford or its bad news for water coolers and stationary bikes around the DFW area

[Spork KIller]

Here we go, pathetic mother fuckers already making excuses for the loss.

Lame ass spurm fans...

[CubanMustGo]

Here are the assigned refs, getting their game instructions from David Stern:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/CLASS/130-247.jpg

[50 cent]

Great, so it's likely that it's either Joey or Salvatore.

Talk about a lose/lose situation.

[TDomination]

nah, we'll probably get him in game 5. that way we don't have much of a home court advantage.

[Mel_13]

check here at 8am CT on the day of the game for ref assignments:

http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html

[sribb43]

As bad as Crawford or Salvatore can be, there is no ref that sucks worse than Violet Palmer

[FromWayDowntown]

As bad as Crawford or Salvatore can be, there is no ref that sucks worse than Violet Palmer

She's working in Denver tonight; both the Spurs and Mavs can breathe a sigh of relief that she won't be in Dallas on Thursday, I think.

[I Love Me Some Me]

She's working in Denver tonight; both the Spurs and Mavs can breathe a sigh of relief that she won't be in Dallas on Thursday, I think.

[sribb43]

What ref has a bigger ego?...Joey Crawford or Dick Bavetta..I'd have to go with Dick

[CubanMustGo]

Joey is a Dick, but I agree.

[FromWayDowntown]

What ref has a bigger ego?...Joey Crawford or Dick Bavetta..I'd have to go with Dick

If we're talking seriously, I think those two guys are very different creatures in the ways that they call games and the problems that many fans take from the ways that they call games.

Bavetta, to me, has always been a guy who aims to keep games close with selective calls. He seems to think that if the game results in a tight finish, he's given the fans what they paid for, no matter the means he has to use to get there.

Joey Crawford, on the other hand, seems to be a guy who believes that officials are every bit as important as the players -- he comes from a family of umpires (Shag Crawford (a Hall of Fame umpire) is his father and Jerry Crawford (an MLB umpire) is his brother) and that seems to have instilled in him a belief that players must respect officials and that officials don't necessarily need to respect the players. He seems like the sort of dude who'd never admit to having been wrong and like the sort of guy who will be particularly disrespectful to anyone who sets out to prove that he was wrong.

[birdy219]

Violet is bad, but she is bad for both teams, so that makes her fair. I would love for Javie to be in dallas. We will have to see who refs tonight's games in order to figure it out.
BTW.... I was extremely disappointed in the way dick reffed game 1. He went against his usually pattern. He is usually a home team ref, but noooooooo not against the mavs.

:flag:

[41times]

The worst ref news for the Mavs would be Danny Crawford. He hates Cuban, Nellie, Avery and presumably Carlisle? But for sure he hates Cuban and he takes it out on us regularly.

Violet is just a bad ref period. She sux for both teams and you never know when you are about to get the shaft from her.

As far as Joey Crawford is concerned, he does have the biggest eggo. Bigger then Old Man Buvetta. I doubt you will see Crawford in San Antonio so if he does this series it would be a Dallas game.

When somebody gets the ref lineup for the game please post it.

[easy7]

Here are the assigned refs, getting their game instructions from David Stern:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/CLASS/130-247.jpg

That guy giving the instructions looks more like JJ Barea...:lol

[BlackBellamy]

As bad as Crawford or Salvatore can be, there is no ref that sucks worse than Violet Palmer
No Ref sucks better, if you ask me.

[FromWayDowntown]

Great, so it's likely that it's either Joey or Salvatore.

Talk about a lose/lose situation.

It's conceivable to me that Foster might possibly be the crew chief. But with the Dampier stuff coming up, the league is more likely (I think) to send a big gun in and Bennett Salvatore and Ed Rush are both on 4 full days of rest at this point. My guess is that each is either in Dallas or Salt Lake City, if they're not together in one of those cities.

[rayray2k8]

Shouldn't really matter who the refs are.
Spurs gotta get at least a split on the road.
Be nice if they took both games, but easier said then
done.
Game on tomorrow..

[BlackBellamy]

Shouldn't really matter who the refs are.
Spurs gotta get at least a split on the road.
Be nice if they took both games, but easier said then
done.
Game on tomorrow..
Man, in a perfect world the refs wouldn't matter. Fact is Joey has a history of horrible calls against us in the play-offs, and the infamous 'two laughs you're out' on Duncan was in Big D. I just don't trust a game called by that little pug-goblin. However, the Mavs have been beat by the Refs in the post season before also, so who knows?

[Phenomanul]

Personally, I wouldn't want Joey officiating any games at San Antonio... It would essentially take away whatever benefit the Spurs could gain from playing at home. May as well chalk up the loss @ Dallas, vs another upset @ San Antonio...

[FromWayDowntown]

For those who actually follow the officiating thing from a standpoint other than worrying about who's going to get screwed, it's interesting to me that we're now 16 games and 5 days into the playoffs and none of those games have been called by Bob Delaney, Jack Nies, Jim Clark, Luis Grillo, David Jones, or Mike Callahan. It could be that all of those guys are coming back to call later games in Round 1 while younger or less experienced officials are serving as third officials in some of the earlier games (Ed Malloy, Zach Zarba, Gary Zielinski, Pat Fraher, Jason Phillips, and Violet Palmer have all called games already).

It will be interesting to see what happens with those older officials, though.

[Obstructed_View]

It's very simple: If the Spurs don't want to worry about the officials, then they need to not worry about the officials. If the Spurs play as hard as they did in game 2, the refs don't matter. If they'd played hard in game 1, the officiating would never have been a factor.

[td4mvp21]

Hopefully neither of the Crawfords will be there, for the Mavs and Spurs sake.

[Creation88]

San Antonio @ Dallas J. Crawford D. Collins E. Rush

fucking lame.

[completely deck]

are you kidding me

[Behrooz24]

I'm trippin, this is some crazy shit!

[Spursmania]

Guys, we're fucked.

[Obstructed_View]

It's very simple: If the Spurs don't want to worry about the officials, then they need to not worry about the officials. If the Spurs play as hard as they did in game 2, the refs don't matter. If they'd played hard in game 1, the officiating would never have been a factor.

[nkdlunch]

Obstructed, Timmy was playing hard when he was suddenly given a T, then a 2nd one and ejection for laughing, and then he was challenged to a fight. He was playing hard but the refs did matter. Joey Crawford mattered

[Obstructed_View]

Obstructed, Timmy was playing hard when he was suddenly given a T, then a 2nd one and ejection for laughing, and then he was challenged to a fight. He was playing hard but the refs did matter. Joey Crawford mattered

Okay, I'll grant you that one, though technically Timmy was sitting on the bench when both those things happened. I'll even grant that the calls Duncan was laughing at were ridiculously one-sided, but Crawford was angry and out of control. Barring an official doing something so egregious that it causes him to be suspended by the league, I believe the Spurs can overcome any officiating crew. I don't actually believe the games are fixed or that the refs are on the take, even as horrible as the reffing has been at times this season. I think the more the NBA front office meddles with the refs, the worse it gets. Basketball is a much harder game to officiate than any other sport, and the NBA zebras were pretty damn good for a lot of years. Mark Cuban has really ushered in the era of "the fix", and Tim Donaghy didn't help matters.

[ElNono]

Okay, I'll grant you that one, though technically Timmy was sitting on the bench when both those things happened. I'll even grant that the calls Duncan was laughing at were ridiculously one-sided, but Crawford was angry and out of control. Barring an official doing something so egregious that it causes him to be suspended by the league, I believe the Spurs can overcome any officiating crew. I don't actually believe the games are fixed or that the refs are on the take, even as horrible as the reffing has been at times this season. I think the more the NBA front office meddles with the refs, the worse it gets. Basketball is a much harder game to officiate than any other sport, and the NBA zebras were pretty damn good for a lot of years. Mark Cuban has really ushered in the era of "the fix", and Tim Donaghy didn't help matters.

Crawford single-handedly 'missed' the Barry call last year too. It's the last play of the game, and can turn a L to a W. I don't mind if they miss/make a call when there's enough time to correct it or do something about it.

[Spursmania]

Okay, I'll grant you that one, though technically Timmy was sitting on the bench when both those things happened. I'll even grant that the calls Duncan was laughing at were ridiculously one-sided, but Crawford was angry and out of control. Barring an official doing something so egregious that it causes him to be suspended by the league, I believe the Spurs can overcome any officiating crew. I don't actually believe the games are fixed or that the refs are on the take, even as horrible as the reffing has been at times this season. I think the more the NBA front office meddles with the refs, the worse it gets. Basketball is a much harder game to officiate than any other sport, and the NBA zebras were pretty damn good for a lot of years. Mark Cuban has really ushered in the era of "the fix", and Tim Donaghy didn't help matters.

Obstructed, I would love to believe that. I agree it's a damn hard game to officiate as things happen so quickly. NBA games, ideally, should be officiated as objectively as possible by zebras who care nothing for their egos or their dislike of certain players but only for the love of the game. This ideal is a lofty one. I don't think some of these refs live up to that ideal.


Crawford single-handedly 'missed' the Barry call last year too. It's the last play of the game, and can turn a L to a W. I don't mind if they miss/make a call when there's enough time to correct it or do something about it.

This Barry missed call was so blatant. I have no alternative but to believe Crawford's ego (i.e. dislike of Spurs, Duncan, etc...) plays a much larger hand in his officiating with the Spurs than his love of the game. I would enjoy being proven wrong tonight, but I have yet to see an officiated game where Crawford hasn't made me question his calls.:toast

[Obstructed_View]

As I mentioned in the other thread, the Spurs didn't deserve to win that game against the Lakers, and if the non-call against Barry was a make-up to ensure the correct team won the game, I don't have a huge issue with it. If Crawford indeed swallowed his whistle as revenge against the Spurs then it was the right thing done for the wrong reason. We'll never know for sure the motivation. The NBA should never have given him his job back regardless, because of questions like this that loom over what should be an exciting playoff series, but degenerates into hand-wringing and whining. We as fans question dozens of calls in EVERY basketball game, regardless of who's officiating simply because of the high number of judgment calls required. We only remember the ones that involve Joey Crawford because we're looking for them, or because we remember his name, but the NBA keeps stats on those things and either Crawford's gaming the system or it's not actually happening.

When it all comes down to it, the teams are going to have to overcome and adjust. That's the bottom line.

[samikeyp]

when it all comes down to it, the teams are going to have to overcome and adjust. That's the bottom line.

+1